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nVillain Ch 65. The Mother and Her Daughter

n“I’m fine, really,” Shea repeated, trying to sound more convincing this time. “The AC is a bit hot lately.” She didn’t want to and couldn’t possibly say what happened after how she teased Zoe last night. Shea even teased Zoe before they went on their daily quest, trying to make her jealous yet she ended up just like Zoe. It was ironic and she didn’t want to admit it.

nZoe looked at the air conditioner, frowning slightly. “It looks fine to me,” she said, her voice laced with concern.

nShea could feel her heart racing in her chest. She knew that she couldn’t keep the truth from Zoe forever, but the thought of admitting her sensual experience with Allen filled her with shame and embarrassment.

n“I just fixed it,” Shea lied, hoping that Zoe would drop the subject. “You should take care of your homework immediately. Everyone is waiting for you,” she added, hoping to change the subject and distract Zoe from her concerns.

n“Oh, you’re right,” Zoe said, turning around and heading toward her room. “Don’t forget to convey my message to the others,” she added before disappearing from the room. 𝚘𝚟𝚕．ｔ

nAs she walked quickly down the hallway, Zoe couldn’t shake off the weird feeling in her heart. Her mother’s attitude had been too strange, too out of character. She couldn’t help but wonder if something was seriously wrong.

n‘Wait, is this because of Allen?’ she guessed, but immediately shook off the thoughts. Her mother had been very clear about her feelings for Allen yesterday, and although Zoe had been a little jealous, she knew that her mother would never act like this just because of this.

nSo, what was going on?

nZoe bit her lip, lost in thought as she reached her room. She sat down at her desk but found that she couldn’t concentrate on her homework. Her mind kept returning to her mother’s strange behavior and she couldn’t help but worry.

n‘Is she exhausted because she was playing too much?’ she thought to herself. It could have been a possibility, but she knew deep down that it wasn’t the case. There was something else going on.

nShaking off her thoughts, with a sigh, Zoe reached for her phone and started to open the chat app. She needed to get the file from her project team so that she could finish her homework and put her mind at ease. She typed a quick message to her friend, asking him to send the file as soon as possible, and hit send.

nAs she waited for the reply, Zoe’s mind wandered to happier thoughts. She pouted, feeling a pang of disappointment in her chest. “Haa… I want to play,” she whined, her voice barely above a whisper. She leaned back in her chair, dropping her head on the back of it in frustration.

nZoe was lost in thought. Her mind wandered aimlessly, flitting from one topic to another, never settling on any one thing for too long. But then, out of nowhere, a single, intriguing thought broke through the chaos and captured her attention.

nThen, like a bolt of lightning, it hit her. “Wait… is she just doing it with him?” Zoe muttered to herself, the words tumbling out before she could even fully form the thought. It was a strange question and one that took her a moment to fully process. But then it hit her: of course, it was normal. It was Allen’s request, after all.

nBut then another thought crept in, dark and foreboding. “If that’s true… What’s with her reaction?” Zoe muttered again, her frown deepening. She couldn’t imagine how she would react if she found herself in Shea’s shoes, treating Allen as her sugar baby. But she was certain that her reaction wouldn’t be like Shea’s. It was almost like… Shea was in love. Her reaction was the same as Zoe’s!

nZoe’s heart skipped a beat as she made the connection. Her world spun out of control as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She gasped, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her eyes shaking with disbelief.

n“Wait… please don’t say she is in love with him…” she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. It was a wild theory, to be sure, but Zoe couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more going on between them than either of them was letting on. And if she was right… Well, that would certainly complicate things.

nZoe’s mind had been lost in a sea of tumultuous thoughts when the chiming of her phone shook her back to reality. She scrambled to grab her phone, hoping that it was the text she had been waiting for. As she unlocked the screen, relief flooded through her when she saw the notification. Her friend had sent the file she had been waiting for.

nWith a sense of urgency, Zoe turned her attention back to her computer. Her fingers danced across the keys as she typed out her latest project, her mind laser-focused on the task at hand. She needed to finish her work as soon as possible so she could get online and get to the bottom of the issue that had been gnawing at her.

nZoe was convinced that Shea wouldn’t say anything to her about what was going on between her and Allen. So she had decided that the only way to get answers was to confront Allen herself. She needed to know what was really going on.

nZoe’s fingers moved with lightning-fast speed as she typed out the last few lines of her project. She could feel her heart racing in her chest as she worked, her mind focused on the task at hand.

nAs soon as she finished typing, she hit the “send” button and waited anxiously for the file to upload. She watched as the progress bar slowly filled up, her fingers tapping nervously on the keyboard. Finally, the upload was complete, and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. With her work finished, Zoe quickly shut down her computer and grabbed her VR headset. She knew that she needed to get online as soon as possible.

nShe slipped the VR headset over her eyes and ears, feeling the world around her fade away as she entered the virtual world.

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